Back To You | B. Bradshaw

03.00

"Now, This is a lucky chance for all of you. Top-of-the-line fighters jets, ready to be used."

"What's the catch?" The pilot beside Fanboy, Payback, asked.

"Glad you caught that. Not much, just a survey, debrief, assessment, whatever you guys want to call after the exercise." She replies, waving her hand in the air. Not happy with the fact that the sad outcome of this favor was that she had to do the paperwork. 

"I'll take any debrief as long as it's with you, chief," Hangman said, winking at her before leaning forward on his desk.

Her dad clears his throat, making the pilot gulp and look away from her. She glances at her father to see him glaring at him as the rest of the class snickers. Rolling her eyes at him, protective as always.

"What you need to know about these babies is that they are worth more than all of you combined. She's better than your F-18s, sturdier, stealthier, and faster."

"One hell of a ride." A low whistle came from the back, Coyote.

"That she is, so do me a favor, fellas, treat her how you treat 'em ladies or men, whichever you swing."

The group snickers and smiles at her words. Poppy looks at her dad, and he nods.

"To your stations."

At his words, everyone in the squad gets up and goes to the locker room to get ready. Briefly looking where Bradley was, she watches him as he walks away with the group. Her heart was pounding loudly against her chest, swallowing hard. Her objective now is to avoid that man at all costs.

"Where the hell did you get permission for this." She hears her dad asks her. Breaking her from the trance, she smirks and turns smug towards him.

"Surprised?"

"That's an understatement."

She laughs at his disbelief before handing him keys to an F-19.

"What's this?"

" An F-19, checked, fixed, and tinkered by yours truly."

"You're trusting me with this?"

"Sue me," She said, shrugging not before she took the keys back and gave her dad a look.

"Do me a favor, though, don't crash this one. Okay?" Her dad laughs at her before grabbing the keys from her.

"Yes, dear."

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As she assesses her dad's plane, she hears a slight commotion behind her. Turning around to see her dad and Bradley talking. Pursing her lips together, she shakes her head and watches them walk away from each other. She looks at her dad, and he shakes his head telling her not to worry about it. She gives him a stern look and sighs before walking toward the other engineers and warrant officers. Spotting Butter, she goes up to them.

"Butter, report."

"Chief, All pilots have been debriefed asides from those three pilots. But Griffin and Brodnik got that covered."

"The last one?"

"Not yet, but I'll get to it."

"Awesome, great work." Poppy said before checking something off her list, patting their shoulder, and walking off before stopping as she heard someone shout.

"Butters!" A warrant officer pops out from nowhere, rushing towards her second in command.

"yep?"

She watches the exchange, and Butter's face contorts in distress. Concerned, she approaches the pair.

"What's wrong."

"The hospital called. Something happened to my little brother."

Poppy's eyes widened from the news; she glanced at the officer, who nodded.

"Chief, can you...?" 

"Yes, of course; which one?

"That one." They point to the jet behind them.

Turning around, her heart dropped to see it was Bradley's jet. The very man she was trying to avoid. Cursing in her head, she turned to Butter.

"Get Fisher to do it."

"He's back at the office already."

"Damn that old man."

"Chief?" She hears Butter ask in concern, not used to seeing her frazzled.

"Go, I got this." She assured her co-worker, giving a strained smile to them. She shoos them away, watching them walk away. She swallows deeply before turning towards the fighter jet, her heart pounding with each step she takes as she comes closer. 

"Lt. Bradshaw, callsign Rooster. This is your Fighter jet for the day." She greets the man as she stops behind him.

She has never seen him turn around so quickly before. Handsome as ever, his mouth parts open lightly before closing firmly. Her heart feels like exploding as he just stands there. Fidgeting uncomfortably, she refuses to look anywhere besides his face, thankful that he's wearing his shades. she nudges her head to the plane.

"Get in, Lieutenant. I can't debrief you out here."

"Oh yeah"

God, his voice, she thought. It was deeper and huskier. Fumbling with her board, she nervously watches Rooster climb into the jet. Following him up, she leans on the side of the jet plane as she points at the controls and all the other stuff he needs to know by giving the fastest and crappiest explanation ever.

"Okay, so controls are familiar. It's just like an F-18. You get fewer switches, more radar space, clearer details, and faster input and output. Controls for guns and missiles are the same as the old ones. Ejects underneath. Questions?"

She rushes before turning her head towards him, flinching as she realizes how close they are to each other. She hadn't noticed that he had taken off his shades. A deep shade of dark brown was shown to her. Her lips parted in awe, her heart beating faster than usual, but she couldn't hear it. 'It's been too long, she thought. Her eyes left his as she scanned his face, from his bushy eyebrows to the unknown scars littering the side of his face. Her hand twitched in anticipation from wanting to trace the scars. She had so many questions to ask him, so many things left unsaid.

"Engineer Mithcell!" 

Breaking from her trance, her head whips towards the direction of Hondo. He was motioning her to come down. Nodding quickly, she refuses to look back at Bradley. She climbs down. A hand stops her from going any further, and she stops not wanting to look up. Her brain screaming warning, she closes her eyes and looks up. Bradley was now standing in the cockpit. As if he wants to follow her, his eyes not leaving hers, begging for her not to leave. 

"Poppy..." He mutters as the mere whisper of her name sends shivers down her spine.

Realizing he won't let go of her hand and won't say anything else, she swallows hard before tugging her hand out of his grip. Her heart can't take it much longer. 

"Lieutenant."  She mutters before heading down the ladder. Hitting the asphalt, she could feel multiple stares at her; knowing one of them was her dad's, she shook her head. She pats Hondo on the shoulder, giving him the go for that the plates are ready. She heads off to the control tower. Walking away, she could feel one heavy stare remain on her. Knowing who it is, it takes all of her self-control not to look back. 

This is going to be a challenging mission.